Your
boss hands you the outline of a presentation he needs to close a client deal
with ABC Floral. He asks that you develop a PowerPoint presentation,
and gives you a disk containing a graphic he would like to use for the
background.
Oh, no! You have never used a custom background
before. Never fear! By following this tutorial, not only will you be able
to use your own graphic as a background, but also customize your color scheme
for text and other elements. Are you ready? Let's go!
Understanding Custom Backgrounds
You
can use just about any type of graphic as a custom background in
PowerPoint. Some of the more popular file types are: .gif, .jpg, .bmp, .wmf,
.png, .wpg, .cdr; and for Mac, .pic and .pict. Because you can use .gif
and .jpg files, an excellent resource for finding graphics is one of the many
free Web graphic sites on the Internet. Surf and find background textures
and pictures that fit your presentation.
Once
you have located/downloaded the appropriate graphic, your next step is to apply
it in PowerPoint. This article is presented as if you are starting a new,
blank presentation, but remember that you can apply a new background to any
existing presentation by following the same steps.
Open PowerPoint, and
select Blank presentation in the opening dialog box.
Alternatively, from the File menu, choose New and Blank
presentation.
Choose
OK.
Double-click
on the first slide layout to make the opening Title slide in the subsequent New
Slide dialog box.
Right-click
anywhere on the background of the slide, and choose Background.
In
the Background fill area of the Background dialog box, choose
the drop-down arrow and select Fill Effects.
The
Fill Effects dialog box offers a number of choices for customizing
your background. Gradients, textures, patterns, and pictures can be
used as a background. For our purposes here, I am presenting the two
most popular, which are textures and pictures. The basic difference,
is that if you select a graphic to use as a texture, PowerPoint tiles
the graphic on the background. If you select a graphic to use
as a picture, PowerPoint adjusts the picture size to fit the size of the
slide. Take a look at the this example:
Graphic
used as a texture.
Same graphic
used as a picture.
Keep this in mind when
selecting pictures to use as a background. To use a graphic as a picture,
it should be large enough to cover the slide or it may look stretched or
distorted, as in the second example. Web sites that offer free wallpaper
graphics for your desktop would be good places to look for graphics to use as
pictures.
Note that the default size Microsoft uses for applying a full-size
picture background is 720 x 540 x 16M (million colors). So, if you have a
picture to use that you want to fill the whole background without using it as a
tiled texture, be sure the size is correct or the background may appear
stretched and/or grainy.
Now, let's finish applying your graphic as the
background...
Notice: You have the author's
permission to use the tutorials on this site for your personal
use only. If you would like to use these tutorials for
training classes or other commercial use, please contact kstille@esmartweb.com.
Distribution in print or on the Web without the author's permission
is strictly prohibited.
Featured Sites
HandofGrace.com
Quality,
affordable sterling silver beaded bracelets & mothers
bracelets. Swarovski crystals, fresh water pearls, Venetian
glass and other unique findings are featured in our bracelets.
The perfect gift for any occasion!
BakedByMom.com
Offering homemade cookie and candy boxes or gifts at reasonable prices, Baked by Mom strives to provide the best quality product in it's class. Try the White Chocolate Chip & Lime cookies, Rocky Road Candy and Caramels - they get rave reviews!
